Several town seats up in Chelmsford as election season begins

CHELMSFORD -- The 2013 town election season will begin Wednesday, the first day that prospective candidates can take out nomination papers to run for office.

Among those whose terms will expire are two selectmen, Matt Hanson and chairman Jon Kurland. Hanson has said he will run for a second term, and Carmen Christiano, who hosts the Politically Incorrect Show on Chelmsford TeleMedia, has said he will also run.

Kurland has not announced whether he will run again.

Two School Committee members, Chairwoman Janet Askenburg and Evelyn Thoren, are also up for re-election.

Thoren said she plans to make a decision in the first or second week of January. Askenburg said she should decide in the next week to 10 days whether she wants to run for a second term. She is also considering running for Board of Selectmen, but said travel commitments for her job as a corporate tax consultant may increase, making it too difficult to hold either office.

Others with expiring terms include Planning Board members Susan Carter and Edmond Roux and associate member Nancy Araway; Housing Authority member Mary St. Hilaire; library trustees David Braslau and Lisa Daigle; Board of Health member Earnest Wu; Cemetery Commission member Gerald Hardy; and Constable William Spence.

In each of the town's nine precincts, six Town Meeting representative members are up for re-election.

The terms are for three years except for two cases, in precincts 3 and 8, where one seat each will be for two years to fill a vacancy.

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Candidates must obtain nomination forms by Feb. 8 and must return them with certified signatures by Feb. 12.

Townwide candidates must obtain signatures from at least 50 registered voters. Town Meeting representative candidates must have signatures from at least 25 residents in their precinct.

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